Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 44

(Photo courtesy of U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School PAO)

A Special Forces student considers options 15 September 2010 during the Robin Sage exercise, which is conducted within 15 North
Carolina counties. The exercise is held eight times each year as the final test for students attending the Special Forces Qualification Course
at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

Deniers of “The Truth”
Why an Agnostic Approach to
Warfare is Key
Lt. Col. Grant M. Martin, U.S. Army

I

will never forget the day I ate lunch with a
retired chaplain and his son in Leavenworth,
Kansas in 2008. At one point, an acquaintance
of the chaplain walked up to him in the restaurant
and shared with him his opinion of the School of
Advanced Military Studies (SAMS).
“They are deniers of The Truth,” he proclaimed,
and went on to describe the school’s sin: the
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instructors encouraged students to question their
most fundamental beliefs. At the time, I thought it
curious that someone would apply a religious attitude to the study of the military arts. After my first
few months at the school, however, I realized that as
one questioned one’s assumptions about the nature
of war, it was only natural that one would also start
to question other assumptions about life, God, and
January-February 2015  MILITARY REVIEW